The invention relates to novel diagnostic marker CT-proADM (C-terminal fragment of preproADM, SEQ ID No. 1) for diagnosing and/or stratifying the risk of diseases. Also disclosed is a method for diagnosing and/or stratifying the risk of diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, cardiac insufficiency, and infections and/or inflammations of the lungs and respiratory tract. In said method, the CT-proADM (SEQ ID No. 1) marker, or a partial peptide of fragment thereof, or said marker contained in a marker combination (panel, cluster) is determined in a patient who is to be examined. The invention further relates to a diagnostic apparatus as well as a kit for carrying out said method.
Prior art describes how to determine proAdrenomedullin (proADM) and Adrenomedullin in diagnosis (EP0622458B1, Lewis L K, Smith M W, Yandle T G, Richards A M, Nicholls M G. Adrenomedullin (1-52) measured in human plasma by radioimmunoassay: plasma concentration, adsorption, and storage. Clin Chem 1998; 44:571-7; Ueda S, Nishio K, Minamino N, Kubo A, Akai Y, Kangawa K, et al. Increased plasma levels of adrenomedullin in patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1999; 160:132-6; Kobayashi K, Kitamura K, Etoh T, Nagatomo Y, Takenaga M, Ishikawa T, et al. Increased plasma adrenomedullin levels in chronic congestive heart failure. Am Heart J 1996; 131:994-8; Kobayashi K, Kitamura K, Hirayama N, Date H, Kashiwagi T, Ikushima I, et al. Increased plasma adrenomedullin in acute myocardial infarction. Am Heart J 1996; 131:676-80.), in particular for the purpose of diagnosing sepsis (EP1121600B1). N-terminal fragments of (pre) proAdrenomedullin for diagnosis have also been described in EP0622458B1, such as PAMP (Hashida S, Kitamura K, Nagatomo Y, Shibata Y, Imamura T, Yamada K, et al. Development of an ultra-sensitive enzyme immunoassay for human pro-adrenomedullin N-terminal peptide and direct measurement of two molecular forms of PAMP in plasma from healthy subjects and patients with cardiovascular disease. Clin Biochem 2004; 37: 14-21). Moreover, a further fragment of the pro-Adrenomedullin, namely the so-called mid-regional pro-Adrenomedullin (MRproADM), is disclosed in EP1488209B1 for diagnostic purposes (Struck J, Tao C, Morgenthaler N G, Bergmann A. Identification of an Adrenomedullin precursor fragment in plasma of sepsis patients. Peptides 2004; 25: 1369-72; Morgenthaler N G, Struck J, Alonso C, Bergmann A. Measurement of mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin in plasma with an immunoluminometric assay. Clin Chem 2005; 51:1823-9; Christ-Crain M, Morgenthaler N G, Stolz D, Muller C, Bingisser R, Harbarth S, et al. Pro-adrenomedullin to predict severity and outcome in community-acquired pneumonia [ISRCTN04176397]. Crit Care 2006; 10:R96;
Christ-Crain M, Morgenthaler N G, Struck J, Harbarth S, Bergmann A, Muller B. Mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin as a prognostic marker in sepsis: an observational study. Crit Care 2005; 9: R816-24).
There exists however a great need to come up with a reliable diagnosis, or carry out a (risk) stratification, for diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, cardiac insufficiency, infections and/or inflammations of the lungs and respiratory tract, in particular in terms of further clinical decisions, and in particular with respect to the severity of diseases, in particular with cardiovascular diseases, cardiac insufficiency, infections and/or inflammations of the lungs and respiratory tract.